UPDATE: Pacioretty, Desharnais sign for two years

Busy day for Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier, who signed forward Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais to two-year contracts. Pacioretty’s is for $1.5 million this coming season and $1.75 million in 2012-13; Desharnais signs for $750,000 and $950,000, according to an RDS report this evening.

Pacioretty spoke on a conference call with Montreal media at 4:30 this afternoon. Full audio is linked above.

A few highlights:

• Pacioretty has put on 10 pounds of muscle and says he’s faster than ever. After having suffered extreme fatigue for a few weeks after being concussed, he said he’s been in full training, 100 per cent, for the past two months.
• He says he continues to get “nasty stuff” through Twitter from some Bruins fans, who maintain his injuries were embellished as a member of the Bruins suggested. “It’s sad that people can feel that way,” he said, pointing out that Boston’s Nathan Horton was also concussed in the playoffs. “I would never say that (Horton) embellished his injury at all, I know exactly what he’s going through.”
• Pacioretty never feared that he’d not be offered a new contract, given his injury.

The team’s release:

MONTREAL (June 20, 2011) – Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier announced today the signing of forward Max Pacioretty to a two-year contract (2011-12 and 2012-13). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Max Pacioretty who is one of the most promising young players in our organization. A power forward with skills, Max showed that he can help our team and make a name for himself in the NHL. We are confident that he will have recovered fully from the injury that kept him out of the line-up for the last month of the regular season and the playoffs,” said Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier.

Pacioretty, 22, completed in 2010-11 his third season with the Canadiens in the NHL. The left winger registered 24 points (14 goals, 10 assists) in 37 games. He tallied two winning goals and seven of his goals were scored on the powerplay. He served 39 penalty minutes and obtained 112 shots on goal, while averaging 15:53 seconds of ice time per game. Pacioretty suffered a season-ending neck injury and a concussion on March 8 against Boston.

Pacioretty had registered 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) in 27 regular-season games with the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs when he was recalled on December 12. He was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Month for November, collecting 17 points (10 goals, 7 assists) in 13 games.

Since 2008-09, Pacioretty has registered 49 points (20 goals, 29 assists) in 123 NHL regular-season games. The 6’2’’, 208 lbs forward has recorded 86 penalty minutes and collected 243 shots on goal. Pacioretty has scored eight of his goals on the powerplay.

A native of New Canaan, Connecticut, Pacioretty was the Canadiens’ second pick (first round, 22nd overall) at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He was part of the United States team in the 2007 World Junior Championship, in Czech Republic.

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And the Desharnais release from the Canadiens:

MONTREAL (June 20, 2011) – Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier announced tonight the signing of forward David Desharnais to a two-year contract (2011-12 and 2012-13). As per club policy, financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to have reached a two-year agreement with David. Since joining our club midway through last season, David has shown that he has the potential to play at the NHL level and contribute offensively to the success of our team,” said Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier.

Desharnais, 24, completed in 2010-11 his first season in the NHL. The centre recorded 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 43 games. Four of his goals were tallied on the powerplay. He served 12 penalty minutes and registered 55 shots on goals, while averaging 12:52 seconds of ice time per game. Desharnais added an assist in five playoff contests.

Desharnais had registered 45 points (10 goals, 35 assists) in 35 regular-season games with the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs when he was recalled on December 31. The 5’7’’, 170 lbs forward was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Month for December, collecting 20 points (3 goals, 17 assists) in 14 games.

Native of Laurier-Station, Quebec, Desharnais first signed with the Canadiens as a free agent on November 5, 2008.

I like Desharnais, good kid with a big heart, but I can’t say I’m really enthusiastic about his 1 way deal… I mean, can you win a cup if your bottom six looks like this: desharnais, eller, darche, moen, white (pyatt/palushaj)…?

Still a certain amount of mis-understanding out there about saving some money to sign Subban and Price so lets go over the numbers so we can see how it really isn’t the problem some make it out to be.Lets add up how much Spacek,Subban and Price will be making this year.
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” There were giants on the earth in those days; and also after that (The Deluge), when the Sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:4

Great signs both ! Next move to acquire Jaromir Jagr and resign Markov + Wiz + Jorges ! Cant wait to see that group Healthy playing together !
Ps.we better trade Gomez !8m less than 30 points is unacceptable.
GO HABS GO

Marc de Foy reports it appears if Jaromir Jagr returns to the NHL next season, it won’t be with the Montreal Canadiens. Petr Svoboda, Jagr’s agent, said Canadiens GM Pierre Gauthier has demonstrate limited interest in his client. Svoboda also represents Canadiens defenseman Roman Hamrlik, and Gauthier will apparently speak with Svoboda about the impending free agent defenseman later this week. The agent also suggested a dozen teams, including Detroit and Pittsburgh, are interested in Jagr. Yvon Pedneault also reported on this story, noting Gauthier has other priorities than Jagr.

I’m okay with that. While the possibility of Jagr was intriguing, I’m less than optimistic about the impact he’ll be able to have. He is one of the all-time greats the game of hockey has ever seen, but 39 years old and 3 years removed from the NHL has me doubtful he’ll be able to be significant, and I’m kinda glad PG has a set plan.

On the other hand, Jagr could come back and score 30+ goals and that wouldn’t really surprise me either.

Still a certain amount of mis-understanding out there about saving some money to sign Subban and Price so lets go over the numbers so we can see how it really isn’t the problem some make it out to be.Lets add up how much Spacek,Subban and Price will be making this year.

Spacek 3.8m
Price 2.75m
Subban .875m
Total 7.425m

The following year Spacek’s money will be available. Lets assume for the sake of argument that Subban will get 3m per and Price gets 6m per. That adds up to 9m. This means to sign both of them the Habs only have to scrape up an additional 1.575m.Assuming the cap goes up another 1m next year then they only really need to have .575m available to get it done. It isn’t an issue.

Einstein’s definition of insanity – “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

Look at the full picture, please. Take Subban’s 0.875mil and add Spacek’s 3.833mil and PG has a maximum of 4.75 for Subban. Take Gill’s 2.25mil and add it to Price’s current 2.75 and now you have a max of 5.0mil for Price. In addition, the cap is calculated on 57% of the previous year’s revenue and the new Versus deal starts this year, therefore that revenue will only affect the 2012-13 cap (assuming that part stays the same in the new CBA) which means there should be a $2.28 million increase in the cap (200m-80m*0.57/30) on that basis alone. Now add the fact that Atl had per game revenue of $500,000 (2008 figure, reported by National Post) while Winnipeg has already got commitments for 13000 season tickets at an average of $82 for total ticket revenue of $1,066,000 per game or $566,000 increase. If Winnipeg sells out that will add $30 million to the league’s gross revenues, or roughly another $570k to the cap. And all this assumes that the new CBA doesn’t have any kind of player exemptions like the NFL or NBA CBAs do.

I was already ecstatic about Max-Pac, but now I’m over the top with the DD announcement. I love that kid’s fire. The only curious thing is that it’s a one-way deal. I thought PG might have opted for more flexibility, bu I do think DD has the goods so hopefully it all works out.

Great news! Very happy both are signed.
Completely agree with everything Max said:

– Good core group
– Young talent emerging
– Want to see the League apply more consistency to its rulings on headshots
– Hope Bruins fans clue in to the fact people respond to concussions differently (and no you f**wits… he wasn’t embellishing!)
– 4th line muscle might help (he was being nice to management… it would help…)

On ya Max. Can’t wait to pick you in my pool and to see you and DD back on the ice soon.

‘Policeman’ situation is hopeless. GaineyGauthier (two headed monster) is pacifist and resolutely so. Even if B’s take out Pacioretty again GG won’t do anything. It was Molson who made a representation to Buttman, he had to. If the situation is not addressed I have no doubt ownership with deal harshly with management. Eventually. In the mean time we suffer more Smurf beat-downs.

There is an obvious whole in the Top 9 forwards group. A suggestion would be to award it to a player that has an impactful camp. I believe Palushaj can do it. He has already played 2 years in the AHL, and I remember reading that his goal was to add bulk to his frame for the summer. If not him, reward it to someone else who has a good camp like White did last year.

I really don’t see a UFA on the market that can fill the void in the top 9 at a reasonable price, so promoting from within is the ideal choice here.

** I addition, some of these contracts are a bit exaggerate. I think 2.75 for Gorges is pushing it. Something like 2.1/year for 4 years would be perfect. Also, I see Markov at or close to 5 million. I think 4.75 for Wiz is good value for what he brings to the table.
-GK-

This would sound really good and better if we get someone to protect our skill players as the Broons have no problem putting our skill players to the press box and no respect to other players in the league. We still need someone who also has no respect towards other players who injure our players and will show regret doing the same. They’re the cup champs now and that’s how they did it.

Those Bruin “fans” should be ‘outed’ the way Vancouver rioters are. No more internet anonymity, put their names the hate messages and email addresses up on the web. There should be consequences to their actions. Ridicule. Shame.

this is all good. although news of the Hammer perhaps resigning sends shivers.. Keep the rebuilding moves coming…the Gorges and Markov signings would give life to my birthday week near the end of the month.

DD was one of the top points per game producers in the AHL the last two seasons and has shown a nose for the net in the NHL as well.

Because of the size issue I have written him off my hypothetical line-ups but still see the logic in this move. The salary cap is all too much a factor in today’s NHL and teams cannot allow assets to be lost.

Good on DD for accomplishing this. 2 years. 1 way. He earned and deserves it.

With this signing though, I am getting the feeling that there wont be any big splash moves this summer. It’ll be steady as she goes. Stay the course. Incremental moves. Standing pat. 96 points. 54%. Pouliot and Pyatt signed. Hammer for cheap. Markov two years. 6 million per. Spacek for one more season. Ciao-ski to Wis-ka-ching-ski. Adieu 2nd round pick. No Jagr-meister either. No UFA signings. Na-da.

But through it all, next season the Habs still finish with 100-104 points. Good, but not good enough for home ice advantage in round 1 of the play-offs.

Hamrlik is out HH, Yemelin signing, Weber improving all means no room for an aging D who gets burnt out earlier and earlier in the season. Pouliot finished himself in MTL with his play as well I’m betting as well.

50 points I’m not sure about, that’s similar to the range of Gionta who moves a lot quicker than he does and suggests DD plays a top-6 role, I’m more to the thought he’s a good 3rd-line forward and hitting 50 points on that line doesn’t really happen.

Come on, he got himself 24 or so points in 40 or so games(Correct me if I’m wrong, I’m actually unsure).

Over a full season, that’s around 48 points, give or take a few depending on how many games DD played. And that’s playing on a 3rd line with Hibernation Pouliot and a mix of guys on the other side. You can’t say he wouldn’t have AT THE VERY LEAST 50 with Max on one side and Gio on the other.

He might not be as fast as Gionta, but he seems to either be able to pick up guys anywhere on the ice for goals, or he finds the right place to be on the ice to score.

Robert, you have too good an eye for hockey to make comments like that. Hammer shouldered way more ice time than was planned due to the injury situation, and he did it well. Without the proviso “under the circumstances”. Yes, younger D may take him out of the picture but a move to youth is different than throwing him under the bus.

I’ve spoken in praise of Hamrlik this year, I have nothing against him but in my view, the team needs to move forward and that means some younger bodies who if forced into bigger roles, will not be physically exhausted 60 or so games into the season. We keep saying Hamrlik will have his minutes scaled back but if injuries on the back end strike again, I’d rather be letting younger bodies get experience than see the predictable curve of Hamrlik getting worn out before the playoffs have even started.

Ok, good comments. But, let’s think about how that might play out. My experience with Martin is that he favours experience over youth. PK only got to play big minutes because of injuries.

If we as you speculate we run into injuries, do you see Martin going with youth, or going with what he has done in the past, leaning on veterans? I shudder at the thought, but I would place Marky on my list of most likely to be injured. That leaves Spatch (who was injured last year, and showed more than Hammer the effects of age), Gill, and PK sucking up big minutes. I would not want to place the burden of big minutes on Georges, coming off a big knee injury.

So, not so easy, and within that, a place for Hammer if he will sign a discounted contract.

One final thought on rookie Marchand: How come when he abuses a superstar he’s applauded by Hockey Night in Canada and the media as a savvy kid who gets under the skin to win. But when Montreal Canadiens rookie P.K. Subban did the same, we were told by the same voices that he was a punk with no respect who needed to be taken down a notch? Is it because Marchand is a Bruin, a sacred squad on Hockey Night, because Sedin is a European or because Marchand is white while Subban is black, or all of the above. Take all the time you need to answer.

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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

Your kid may well be right, but like you I hope not and don’t want to believe it. Hockey players are professional athletes and therefore belong to a wider fraternity involving the other major sports where, whatever may happen or be said among the suits in the backroom, the players themselves appear generally to be colour-blind.

If hockey is somehow different, and if skin-colour is an issue, then that would say something enormous about us as Canadians, something much worse than what the Vancouver riots said.

Until there’s evidence, I will cling to the idea that ANYONE with that precocious amount of talent with a mouth to match AND an appetite for the role of agent provacateur is bound to attract hostility.

One thing I want PK to do next year is play hard and not worry if the ref is about to call a penalty, whether on him or the opponent he’s tangling with. I saw him a lot last year lifting his arms, looking at the ref, either claiming innocence, or asking for one to be called. It seemed to make him lose his concentration.

The fact that he’s yappy is also something he needs to control. It’s not Canadiens hockey, and more importantly, there isn’t a Nilan or Ferguson around to save his bacon. He will be targeted and have to fight all his battles, which is a waste of his time and talent. I know some guys will always talk, but he could try to remake his game like Kesler and Burrows did this year, stop being antagonists and focus on being hockey players. Both of them improved their game greatly this year.

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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

The text below is from Bruce Dowbiggin’s column in the Globe and Mail today. He’s one of the few who didn’t expiate the Bruins’ win with comments such as ‘they wanted it more’, or ‘they had the deeper team’, or ‘they knew how to play playoff hockey’. Thumbs up Bruce.

NEGATIVE IMAGES

As the NHL hands out its awards in Las Vegas Tuesday, it’ll be looking to expunge the media images from one of the nastiest Stanley Cup finals in recent memory. Most depressing was the image of thousands of young men in Vancouver who seem to have mistaken a riot for a South Park episode. The other was the sight of Boston Bruins rookie Brad Marchand using the head of Hart Trophy finalist Daniel Sedin as a speed bag – to the approval of hockey’s blood culture.

The league can’t do much for the street rioting but it could do something about the latter. Imagine an NBA rookie speed-bagging Dirk Nowitzki’s head going into a timeout or a first-year NFL player hitting Tom Brady in the head repeatedly after the play. What do you think the response would be from those leagues? They’d hammer the kid.

But the NHL stands by as useless as a Vancouver city cop watching his cruiser burn. Better yet, media types – some of whom piously decry fighting – blame Sedin for bruising Marchand’s knuckles and tell Vancouver to wise up and get some tough guys. Hope all the parents with kids in hockey are following this.

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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

Great quote.
And much as I consider Marchand, however brilliant, to be a detestable little bollox, I join with Dowbiggin and say the bulk of the blame has to go with the league which remains so embarrassingly ambivalent on the issue of violence.

What the hell, let’s take a run at Nikita Filatov. Columbus may sell him off cheap and he would be another good prospect to add to our stable. Could be top six gold in a year or two, or maybe a total bust.

OK: fair is fair. I just read a column from today by Jack Todd with which I agree on the whole, in the particulars (Canucks will never win a Stanley Cup with Luongo in goal), and in the restraint (as I read it I mused when the first abusive inclusion of Don Cherry would appear — none did.)

Desharnais will prove he’s as good or better than Eller that’s why I’m glad they kept him. Eller has to play 18:00 minutes a game than we’ll see how good he is 11:00 – 12:00 minutes don’t cut it
my opinion, Desharnais is better, played half as many games had more points and only played 12:00 minutes a game.

Neutral, David is three years older than Lars, so it’s hard to compare them right now. Lars isn’t fully matured as a player, still has a lot of developing to do, which I wish he would have done in the AHL last year, spending more time on the first or second line, time on PP, PK, important draws, etc.

Let’s hope that both of them compete against each other and keep improving and fighting to get on the #1 line.

habitual, I watched today on TSN the 10 greatest plays of the season. Martin St-Louis was featured on three of the Top 10, more than any other player. At the age of 35. At the same size as David.

I’m not saying he will be as good as St-Louis, but he has the same background as him. Smart, talented, great attitude and hockey sense, makes the players around him better. Knocked as he came up the ranks for being too small and too slow. Had to earn his way up the minors proving himself. Let’s not throw away a guy with talent for a bigger one with none.

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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

Was watching TSN analysis of Canadian NHL team prospects. Craig Button (wasn’t a great GM but was a very good scout) claims teams will bemoan passing up on Jarred Tinordi. He believes that the Habs got a steal.

The Max signing is great news. And dreaming of maybe the next Martin St Louis, I’m also very happy about DD. Getting some tingles, pieces falling together. Semifinals last year, eliminated in OT game 7 this year by the eventual champions. Even with injuries etc, we have been contending. Tingles.

But I’m really posting so as to paste the following from nhl.com on the Max signing:

“On March 8, when Boston captain Zdeno Chara inadvertently drove him face-first into the padded partition by the team benches at Bell Centre. Pacioretty suffered a severe concussion and a fracture of the fourth cervical vertebrae and was forced to spend two nights in the hospital.”

Sorry if I’m not the first to mention this. “Inadvertently”? Who wrote this, Chara’s mother? I believe I’m more generous than many on this site, in that I would give Chara some benefit of the doubt: that while he wanted to lay on the big hit, teach a lesson/ send a message/get some payback, I can’t believe he hoped to snap Max’s neck. I also suspect he afterwards genuinely regretted the injury, and the loss of self-control which occasioned it, and felt badly for Max.

But “inadvertent” is not a word you can use with reference to this incident. If you deconstruct the passage further, there is another attempt to minimise the injury by making reference to Max’s two-night hospital stay, as though its brevity somehow reassures that a broken neck is not so bad.

I appreciate that nhl.com is the league organ and must cheerlead for its champion’s captain. But the lack of subtlety in that little bit of revisionism adds to the ever-increasing impression that the NHL believes it can say and do whatever it wants without fear of any adverse consequences for itself.

You always have to consider the source. This was written by a nhl.com hack, who knows where he’s getting his paycheque, so he’s not going to rock the boat too much. He has to protect the NHL Stanley Cup winning captain, and his job.

I used to watch NFL Network religiously, but their coverage of the lockout has been shameful, so I don’t anymore. Same for nfl.com. They keep saying the players have to compromise to get a deal done, as if it’s not the owners who pulled the trigger and are endangering the season.

Always consider the source.
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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

How many goals do you want the 4th line to score, 15 each? That’s your 4th line, 5-10 goal scorers on their best years. Talbot’s got fire, he can play the penalty kill and he wins faceoffs. Between White and Moen that’s a 4th line that can crash and bang while being defensively responsible.

Eller vs. DD is an intriguing debate. But lemme just throw this bit of mischief out there: with all these good young centremen in the tent, could our boy PG possibly, just possibly, be carving himself the option of burying Gomez at some point down the road?

Let’s say for argument sake Gomez was doing no better at New Year’s ’12 than he was at the beginning of ’11. And let’s say PG picked up Zenon Konopka on July 1 to play on the fourth line, beat people up and take key face-offs. He would then have the option of slotting Eller or DD higher in the lineup while trying to deal Gomer by taking on dead salary from someone else. Failing that, he could drop poor Scott down the black hole of the AHL, from which he’d never return, because the Habs wouldn’t want to pay him $3.5M to play for a competitor.

Not sure if it’s been reported here but the following is an excerpt from homer j-whore-nalist Kevin Paul Dupont’s article in yesterday’s paper.
“OK, he’s the game’s No. 1 suit, so Bettman isn’t likely ever to be greeted with open arms and sweet kisses at any of the Original 30 arenas. But that boo-ridden beatdown he took Wednesday night in Vancouver was outrageous, even vulgar. Many, if not most, Canadians believe Bettman has been unfriendly to Canadian hockey at large, pointing to the loss of the Winnipeg and Quebec franchises under his watch. The Vancouver crowd was further incensed, of course, over Aaron Rome getting heaved out of the series for his predatory, concussion-inducing hit on Nathan Horton. Bound to happen, I suppose, even if the Canucks had won the Cup. Asked about it in a radio interview the next day, Bettman said, “To answer that question would require me to engage in some degree of whining, which I will not do. The fact of the matter is, people sometimes have perceptions as to why things do and don’t happen. People who understand what exactly we have tried to accomplish and the fact that most of the Canadian franchises wouldn’t be in Canada anymore if not for the things we’ve done over the last two decades . . . they get it.’’”

He’s talking about the NHL’s revenue-sharing plan, which helped the Canadian teams out quite a bit when the dollar was worth $.79 US. Ironically, now the Canucks and Canadiens and Leafs are paying to keep the Southern teams afloat.

Bettman is a snide little turd and deserves every boo he gets twice over. His quote when Winnipeg and Quebec were in trouble and about to be moved was: “This isn’t an NHL problem, this is a WHA problem”, washing his hands of it by saying the WHA had picked out lousy locations. He didn’t pull the two-year long anti-Balsillie tantrum he’s thrown for the Coyotes.

Whoever this guy is who wrote this article is an idiotic or corrupt embarrassment. More probably the latter, in the age of Twitter, it’s hard to get a scoop, so now Gary owes him one. Bettman gets booed everywhere he appears, not just Vancouver or Canada, because of the entirety of his oeuvre. It happened at the Winter Classic and All-Star game and will keep happening.

Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, tried hard to be the people’s commissioner, rubbing elbows with fans and holding Town Hall meetings, and was reasonably successful, until he tried to polish the turd of the lockout by saying it had to be done to save franchises. The lusty, unanimous booing he received during the NFL Draft was a complete 180 in his relationship with the fans, and he can expect this to last the rest of his term if he causes games to be lost.

Wonder what Kevin Paul Douchebag will have to say about that. My money’s on another public fellation of the Commish.

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“I hate the Bruins more than the Nordiques, who I hate more than the Flyers.”

I’m beginning to think that this year will be a bit of a holding pattern for Montreal. After this year Gomez’ and Spacek’s salary will come off the books*. That’s $11m right there. And even if Price’s salary doubles and Subban’s quadruples, that’ll still only account for $6m or so of the Gomez/Spacek savings.

Until Montreal can get that kind of payroll flexibility, then we might see solidifying around the edges (like we are with the RFA signings) but nothing earth shattering – unless Gauthier decides to ignore the need up front for a top 6 winger and signs Wisniewski instead.

(the only problem is that the 2012 UFA class looks to be atrocious – after Semin, Sharp, Hemsky, and Penner it’s slim pickin’s)

*unless the PA and the owners don’t, for some insane reason, write in a penalty-free buyout window into the new CBA

Worth every penny (of course it’s not my money) but I think the most important message to send to the young players we have here and coming that we care about winning the cup, not just muddling into the playoffs every year, and if you don’t buy in, it’s sandwich and a roadmap.

I think it will be a topic of discussion – because I really can’t see either side not wanting one.

There’s been a lot of regrettable contracts signed that the owners would like a mulligan on (and the players who are bought out can still sign elsewhere, so they’re getting paid by two teams to play for one…no way they won’t agree to that!).

Man I’m not liking this Desharnais signing. I appreciate what he did for us this year, but we do not have room for him. We need a 3rd line with size and scoring ability, so I wanted to see an AK – Eller – Darche line but I guess that’s not happening.

22 points in 43 games with 3rd and 4th line minutes, not to mention a heart as big as anyone’s in this league. He was undrafted and had to work hard to get where he is today, I believe he’s underrated and we’ll be glad we kept him in the coming years.

As much as I tried to convince myself that we should let Desharnais walk because he and we are simply too small; I knew he was pretty talented player and it could come back to bite us.
Gauthier is not going to change the entire look of our team in one offseason to get bigger and let talented players go. Although I wanted him gone because we’re already set/stuck down the middle with Plek-Gomez-Eller; Gauthier held onto a good player
If there’s an injury or Eller doesn’t blow Martin’s socks off, Desharnais can step right in. He could probably get 60pts if he were given the chance.

camm,gion,gomez,ak46,darche,plecks.eller,maxpac,dd….9 forwards on the team and only 3 starting spots for moen,pyatt,white,pouliot,halpern…if an ufa is signed than 2 spots left…does not look like there is any chance for any minor league player to make the team from camp now no matter how great a camp he has…

Desharnais is a good 3rd line center if you’re not concerned with size and he’s worth every dollar he signed for. give him two good wingers and the Habs would have a solid 3rd line. Laich and Leino Boston’s time with the cup would be short lived.

More likely DD is shifted to wing and Lars Eller plays at C. He’s the more important long-term piece and he was best this season when playing at his natural position. Laich and Leino are two of the highest-price forwards going into free agency and MTL can’t afford them without hurting themselves for trying to extend Eller, Price and Subban in the next offseason.

Didn’t see Mac getting back in the coaching pool anyway. I think Ramsay, much like his former boss Dudley kind of got hosed in the team’s move but the new owners wanted to put their own stamp on things even though Dudley pretty much built the 2004 TBL Cup squad and was part of a lot of the CHI effort to build their 2010 team.

Rick Dudley, GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 1999 to 2002. He acquired St. Louis, Dave Andreychuk, Frederik Modin, Dan Boyle in that time. 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th leading scorers on the team in their playoff run.